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ByNagarajan M, IAS
District Development OfficerSabarkantha District
Gujarat Email: [email protected]
Sabarkantha Model of Rural Broadband for Digital India
Towards Creating a Digital Sabarkantha
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Inaugurated by Hon. CM of Gujarat Smt. Anandiben Patel on 12 Sept 2014
Key achievements of the Model
• Sabarkantha District Panchayat is the only non-telecom player to have tower sharing agreement with BSNL.
• It’s a multi-stakeholder Public-Public-Private-Partnership model
• Revenue sharing as key principle to ensure sustainability of the project
• Modular and scalable model that can be applied to the NOFN/BharatNet Project
Broadband and Development
India Vs. World
What is needed for Rural Broadband
• ISP• Bandwidth• Billing, CRM Solution• AAA authentication• Network Backhaul• Last Mile
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Many Ways to Connect
Kerala Model
All Modes can work in combination
What is needed for Rural Broadband
Khedbrahma Experiment Sabarkantha Model of Rural Broadband
ISP Local Private ISP Railtel – Central Govt. PSU
Bandwidth On Demand On Demand
Billing, CRM ISP consortium ISP Provided
AAA Authentication ISP consortium ISP Provided
Network Backhaul Wireless – 5.8 Ghz Wireless/Cable/Fiber/Leased Line/ Dark Fiber
Last-Mile WiFi - 2.4 Ghz WiFi/ FTTH
Digital Gangetic Plains (DGP): 802.11based Low Cost Networking for Rural Areas – Prof. Bhaskaran Raman
Network Topology
• Recommended by IIT Kanpur (2004) as the best model for Rural Internet Connectivity.
• Uses delicenced spectrum in 5.8 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz.
• Hub and Spokes model• Mesh Network – Link Failure resistance• Multi-mode Middle mile (backhaul)
P2P Link Towers – Range 10 – 15 KM
Link Towers to GP Towers
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Village :- Derol
Location of Tower :- Derol PHC
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Village :- Khedbrahma
Location of Tower :-
K’bma Civil Hospital
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Village :- Chikhla
Location of Tower Chikhla Gram Panchayat
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Stakeholder consultations – July 2014
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Agreement Signing with SHG Leader
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Agreement Signing with SHG Leader
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Agreement Signing with Sarpanch
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Agreement Signing with Sarpanch
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The Digital Brigade
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Dated: 07-05-2014 Sandesh NewsSabarkantha Avruti
General Elections-2014 : Webcasting of Polling at 93/106 booths
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Khedbrahma Model• 32 Gram Panchayats• Village Level towers
and access points installed by GP or SHG.
• Plug and Play model• 10% Revenue share of
all sales generated in their area of operation.
•District Panchayat (DP) erects P2P Towers and provides connectivity to GPs.•Appoints a vendors who provides scalable internet bandwidth as per demand in PPP mode.•Vendors pays 20% revenue share to DP – takes care all other legal and reporting formalities.
Key Benefits
• Provides regular income to GP• Increased respect of Local self Govt. among
citizens• Demand of the times• Risk is divided and handled as per the capacity
of stakeholders• Highly scalable - anywhere across Gujarat• RAILTEL as strategic partner
Some Pointers
• Average no. Of connection will be approx. 8% - 10% of population
• Its not about WiFi but providing internet to rural areas with WiFi hotspots where needed.
• Cyber Kitley – Village Cyber cafe
• Gyan Setu – Online classes
• Rural Ecomm – tie up with Flipkart/Snapdeal
• Learning Portal – K-12, Financial literacy, Livelihood
Project Output
Client Relationship Management (CRM)
Registration Details Partner Wise
Free UserPaid User
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MOU with Railtel in the presence of Hon. CM of Gujarat
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Digital Setu Business ModelPPP model on revenue sharing & Multi-stakeholder inclusive approach
Network Partner
Revenue Share Model
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Revenue Share Breakup
District Panchayat,
Sabarkantha
Gram Panchayat
PACS VCE
PACS-CARE 5% 10% 25% NIL
GP-VCE 5% 25% NIL 10%
PACS-FULL NIL NIL 40% NILDP-GP-VCE 5% 25% NIL 10%
The AGR will be shared as follows:
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Network Monitoring
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CRM System http://gj.railwire.co.in
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Customer Acquisition Form (CAF)
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Billing System
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Subscriber Application form
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Select Plan
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Application Status
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Top-UP Subscriber Account
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Customer Login Page
Synergy with NOFN/BhartNet
• NOFN Terminates 100 MBPS fiber at Panchayat• Last mile to homes, schools and institutions will
depend on wireless• Bandwidth is still not committed under NOFN• Public Internet Service is not yet committed
under NOFN• Will take some years to reach remote areas –
Digital Setu reaches “TODAY”.
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Project Milestones
May - 2014 Webcasting of 96 Polling booths during General Elections – 2014
Sept – 2014 India’s First 100% WiFi Tribal Block declared
Dec – 2014 Free Internet Daily for 30 mins upto 30 MB
Feb - 2015 Tower Sharing contract with BSNL
Aug – 2015 MoU with Railtel Corporation of India Ltd
Recent News on Broadband
More news...A few years
is too long in Digital era
More news...Rural areas are ignored
WLAN vs Bandwidth ApproachFramework to access services
Value Added content can be provided over LAN
eLearning, eAgri, eHealth, Life skills
District Officials can run local need based services
Fosters innovation and emergence of Local and
Rural Startups
Best utilization of mid-mile and last-mile
bandwidth capacity
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What is Sabarkantha Model of Rural Broadband
Multi-Stakeholder
Public-Public-Private Partnership ModeRevenue Sharing basis
Localized
ModularizedScalable
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Stakeholders
DRDA, Sabarkantha
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Stakeholders
Only Non Telecom Entity to have Tower Sharing Contract with BSNL
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Administrative Innovations
• Rate Contract of Line Items for all hardware• AMC for a block of 50 Gram Panchayats to
ensure service levels• Mid-mile investment by District Panchayat
and Last-mile investments by GPs/PACS/SHGs.• Use of Planning funds – BRGF by MoPR, GoI• Own funds of District Panchayat allocated by
General body.
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Myths in Rural Broadband
Bandwidth is costly
End to End responsibility has to be one single agency to ensure SLAs.
Return on Investment (RoI) is low.
Rural Broadband is a technical challenge
Villagers don’t use/need Internet• Online Job application conundrum
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Ironies in Rural Broadband in India
Competition instead of Collaboration
Focusing of weakness of others than the strengths
Bandwidth/hardware as framework of planning than service level
Service Framework and Governance is left out
Who is the owner of the Project?
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Middle-Mile Options
BSNL Tower Rental for Radio DevicesLeased Line connectivity upto exchange levelDark Fiber lease
Other Telecom Players Leasing of Dark FiberLocal Cable Operators (LCOs) Use spare fiber to reach
homes on revenue share (Railwire Model)
Utility Provider building backbone fiber
Kerala Model
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Connectivity as a framework – Services as the Focus
Service Model is situation centric
Needs to be evolved – Bottom-up approach
Grounded in local culture
Thank YouNagarajan M, IAS
District Development OfficerSabarkantha District Panchayat E-mail : [email protected]